I'll let you into a little secret, dont tell anybody.
I reformed the electrolytics with my home made reformer but with the variac turned down a little to about 210 volts to prevent my reformer from getting up to its normal 375v. The electrolytics are only rated at 350v.
All the original testing and voltage measurements on the amp were out, guess why.
Yes, I still had the variac set to 210v, and its not the first time I have done that.
I realised when I was checking the heater voltage to see why the amp took so long to warm up, it turned out to be only about 5.5v, then I had a
moment.
I had originally fitted a 220 ohm resistor in the HT to the first cap, but later removed that. I have now resorted to fitting a 330 ohm resistor to get the EL84 anode voltage down to spot on 290v. The EF86 anode is now spot on 20v and the grid voltage on the EL84 was about 10v.
It sounded even better on the full voltage.
Mike
I reformed the electrolytics with my home made reformer but with the variac turned down a little to about 210 volts to prevent my reformer from getting up to its normal 375v. The electrolytics are only rated at 350v.
All the original testing and voltage measurements on the amp were out, guess why.
Yes, I still had the variac set to 210v, and its not the first time I have done that.
I realised when I was checking the heater voltage to see why the amp took so long to warm up, it turned out to be only about 5.5v, then I had a
moment.I had originally fitted a 220 ohm resistor in the HT to the first cap, but later removed that. I have now resorted to fitting a 330 ohm resistor to get the EL84 anode voltage down to spot on 290v. The EF86 anode is now spot on 20v and the grid voltage on the EL84 was about 10v.
It sounded even better on the full voltage.
Mike
